Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of questions can I ask here?

... it is welcome here. No question is too trivial or too "newbie". Oh yes, and
it should be about SAS®.

Please look around to see if your question has already been asked (and maybe even
answered!) before you ask. If you end up asking a question that has been
asked before, that is OK and deliberately allowed. Other users will hopefully edit
in links to related or similar questions to help future visitors find their way.

It's also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, but pretend
you're on Jeopardy: phrase
it in the form of a question.

What kind of questions should I not ask here?

Avoid asking questions that are overly subjective, argumentative,
or require extended discussion. This is not a discussion board, this
is a place for questions that can be answered!

Be nice.

Treat others with the same respect you'd want them to treat you.
We're all here to learn together. Be tolerant of others who
may not know everything you know. Bring your sense of humor.

Do I have to log in or create an account?

Nope. You can answer and ask questions to your heart's content as an anonymous user,
much like Wikipedia. However, there are
some things you won't be able to do on the site without registering. But it's easy to register if you want to. All you need is an
OpenID account. You've probably already got one (if you use Yahoo! or Google or any of a number of other sites, you do).

What is reputation?

Reputation is completely optional. Normal use of RunSubmit.com — that is,
asking and answering questions — does not require any reputation whatsoever.

Remember, RunSubmit.com is run by you! If you want to help us run the site,
you'll need reputation first. Reputation is a (very) rough measurement of
how much the RunSubmit.com community trusts you. Reputation is never
given, it is earned by convincing other users that you know
what you're talking about.

Here's how it works: if you post a good question or helpful answer, it will be voted
up by your peers: you gain 10 reputation points. If you post something that's
off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down: you lose 2 reputation points.
You can earn up to 200 reputation per day, but no more. (Note that votes
for any posts marked "community wiki" do not generate reputation.)

At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users
with high reputation and moderators. That is very much intentional. We don't run
RunSubmit.com. The community does.

What if I don't get a good answer?

In order to get good answers, you have to put some effort into the question. Edit
your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued
efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get
more people interested in it.

If, after two days, you still don't have an answer you like, you can
offer a bounty. Slice off a bit of your own
hard-earned reputation -- anywhere from 50 to 500 -- and attach it to the question
as a bounty. We'll even throw in 50 reputation to sweeten the deal. The bountied
question will appear with a special icon in all question lists, and it will also
be visible on the home page Featured tab.

Once initiated, the bounty period lasts seven days. If you mark an accepted answer,
your bounty is awarded to the answerer (do note that accepted bounty answers are
permanent and cannot be changed). If you do not accept an answer in seven days,
the top voted answer will automatically become the accepted answer, and half your
bounty will be awarded to that answer. You will always give up the amount of reputation
specified in the bounty, so if you start a bounty, be sure to follow up and accept
the best answer!

Of course, bounty awards, like all accepted answers, are immune to the daily reputation
cap and community wiki mode.

Other people can edit my stuff?!

Like Wikipedia, this site is collaboratively edited.
If you are not comfortable with the idea of your questions and answers being edited
by other trusted users, this may not be the site for you.